1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to gas-fueled lighters, and, more particularly, to gas-fueled lighters having a safety device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Gas-fueled lighters, such as disposable butane lighters, are presently manufactured and sold with a safety device incorporated therein. The safety device is movable between a first position allowing operation of the thumb lever, and a second position preventing operation of the thumb lever. The safety device in essence makes the lighter a "single shot" lighter in which the thumb lever may only be depressed one time after the safety device is moved to the position allowing depressing of the thumb lever. Such safety devices have the intended purpose of preventing children from easily operating the lighter.
In reality, these safety devices have rendered gas-fuel lighters essentially inoperable for certain individuals. For example, these safety devices are quite small and require a substantial amount of manual dexterity in order to move the safety device to a position where the lighter may be used. Elderly persons, or persons with arthritis or other conditions affecting manual dexterity may not be able to use the lighter because of the safety device. Activities such as lighting a barbecue grill, burning trash, smoking or the like can therefore not be accomplished by such persons using these current types of gas-fueled lighters. Thus, such persons are forced to use matches in order to start a fire. Using matches may pose a safety problem since the matches are smaller than a lighter and may be fumbled or dropped after being lit.
Another problem is that such safety devices many times require the use of two hands in order to operate the lighter. However, the thumb lever and safety device are positioned closely adjacent to each other. For a person with large hands or limited manual dexterity, this makes the lighter very difficult if not impossible to operate.
Another problem associated with such gas-fueled lighters is that even those persons who do not require a safety device, because of the lack of children, may not be able to operate the lighter. Because of the extreme difficulty in operating lighters with such safety devices, these lighters have been the target of temper flare-ups, explicitives, etc., from the people who use them.
One known way of defeating the safety devices on presently sold gas-fueled lighters is to pry out and break the safety device with a screwdriver or other relatively sharp instrument. However, to accomplish this, the user must hold the lighter in one hand while prying the safety device out with the sharp instrument in the other hand. This may likely result in the user being stabbed or otherwise cut with the relatively sharp instrument used to pry out the safety device. Users of presently sold gas-fueled lighters may thus be injured by trying to pry out and remove the safety devices.
What is needed ill the art is a device which allows individuals with limited manual dexterity to still operate gas-fueled lighters.
What is further needed in the art is a device which allows individuals who do not require the use of a safety device because of the lack of children, etc., to use presently sold gas-fueled lighters with relative ease.
A still further need is a device which can be used to circumvent safety devices on presently sold gas-fueled lighters, which does not present potential injury to the user when defeating the safety device.